MBE Wealth Management LLC Sells 99 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

MBE Wealth Management LLC lowered its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 9.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 995 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 99 shares during the period. MBE Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $524,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd grew its position in Mastercard by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd now owns 2,805,554 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,385,383,000 after acquiring an additional 62,891 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in Mastercard by 15.6% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,510,756 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,325,353,000 after buying an additional 337,905 shares during the period. Cardano Risk Management B.V. lifted its holdings in Mastercard by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 368,690 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $194,141,000 after buying an additional 9,611 shares during the period. Sarasin & Partners LLP lifted its holdings in Mastercard by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 831,942 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $410,813,000 after buying an additional 37,486 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Mastercard by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,010,430 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,474,151,000 after buying an additional 100,550 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on MA shares. Citigroup lifted their target price on Mastercard from $572.00 to $584.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Mastercard from $575.00 to $591.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Monday, November 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $572.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their target price on Mastercard from $533.00 to $567.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $567.29.

Mastercard Stock Performance

MA stock opened at $547.53 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $502.53 billion, a PE ratio of 41.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36. The business has a 50 day moving average of $524.77 and a 200-day moving average of $497.91. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12-month low of $428.86 and a 12-month high of $547.99.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.73 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $7.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.27 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 178.27% and a net margin of 45.26%. Mastercard’s quarterly revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.39 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 9th will be issued a $0.76 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This is a positive change from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.56%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.00%.

Mastercard declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, December 17th that allows the company to repurchase $12.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the credit services provider to repurchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Mastercard Company Profile

Mastercard Incorporated, a technology company, provides transaction processing and other payment-related products and services in the United States and internationally. The company offers integrated products and value-added services for account holders, merchants, financial institutions, digital partners, businesses, governments, and other organizations, such as programs that enable issuers to provide consumers with credits to defer payments; payment products and solutions that allow its customers to access funds in deposit and other accounts; prepaid programs services; and commercial credit, debit, and prepaid payment products and solutions.